|colorado cinematographers | vail, colorado wedding | rocky mountain videographer | colorado wedding videography | vail wedding video | married in colorado
.jpg)
Against my better judgement, I often think back on our own wedding and wonder what I might have done differently if we were planning now. There are likely a million things we’d change – like the date. Late August in the scorching Midwest was a terrible idea, but that’s neither here nor there at this point. OBVIOUSLY the most important change is that I’d wear a bridal cape. I mean, C’MON. I’m completely inspired by Melissa’s wedding style and it’s making me want to hop back in my dress, tie a blanket around my neck (pseudo cape, duh) and twirl and skip around.
This wedding really had it all – gorgeously moody skies, beautiful floral work, a dapper & dancing groom, epic Vail views, detail upon detail, and so, so much more. If you haven’t seen this one yet, set aside 5 minutes today to give it a watch. I’m sure you’ll be just as inspired as we were.
Planning & Design: Courtney Cyr Design + Events
Ceremony Location: Vail Wedding Deck
Reception Location: Sonnenalp Hotel Vail
Floral: Petals & Pours
Dress: Stella York
Hair: Breckenridge Chopping Block
Photography: Clancey
| colorado wedding filmmakers | colorado intimate elopement film inspiration | colorado wedding videographers | rocky mountain elopement video| summit county wedding videography |
.jpg)
What makes a great wedding video? What makes your films different? These are questions we’re asked often, and while the answers are largely subjective, we definitely believe there are a few key elements that work together to take a film from meh to amaaaazing. Here are our top 5!
- Professional Audio
Audio is QUEEN in the wedding film industry. All the most beautiful shots in the world won’t mean a thing if the vows are garbled and unclear, if you can’t understand the officiant, or if the toasts are blown out. Through a lot of trial and error (and let’s be honest, we’re still constantly learning ways to refine our processes!) we believe we’ve locked down some fool proof practices to ensure we walk away at the end of the night with quality audio. When you’re looking for a wedding videographer and watching film after film by various artists and companies, make sure you pay attention to the audio. This can truly make or break your film.
- Cohesive Storyline
How difficult is it to watch a movie if the plot doesn’t make sense? If the story is jumping all over and the shots don’t seem to flow? While our clients only see us working on the actual wedding day, the real work of the storytelling takes place in the long hours post wedding, sitting at our computers, culling through every second of footage and carefully piecing them together. Our hope is to draw you in and take you back to the story of your wedding day; to show you shots you had no idea we got; to tell your story in a way that you hadn’t even considered; to exceed your expectations tenfold. A cohesive storyline is HUGE for this.
- Song Choice
We mentioned above that professional audio can make or break an otherwise great film. Song choice is much the same. So many of the most memorable films of our time are largely recalled by their musical score. Think about it – Jaws. Titanic. Star Wars. Incredible imagery complemented by incredible music. We take great care in choosing the perfect songs for each and every film we create. We’re often asked whether clients can choose the song for their films. Copyright and licensing laws aside (and there are lots of them), we really love – and spend A LOT of time – choosing the music for our films and even if it’s not a conscious thing, we firmly believe that a big part of why our clients ultimately end up choosing us is because of the way they feel when they watch our films. The songs we choose greatly impact those strong feelings.
- Use of Quality B-roll
One of our favorite ways to draw viewers into our films is with use of b-roll. Setting the scene for a couples’ day begins with telling the story of where they choose to seal the deal. Environmental shots – a babbling brook; swaying trees; aerial views of the mountains; grass blowing in the wind. These types of shots push the story forward, help establish the overall vibe of the day, and finally, really show off the venue and area that our couples spend so much time choosing. We believe that some well placed b-roll is evvverything in a good wedding film.
- Color-grading
Just as the majority of photographers use a preset at the beginning of their editing process, we use LUTS to set the base color on our films. We’ve developed a select few LUTS that closely matches our photo editing, so when you choose to book us for both, your film and your image gallery will be delivered in the same editing style. Of all 5 of our points, this is the most subjective, but we personally LOVE a consistent photo gallery, so why should we allow a film to be any different? When you’re searching for the perfect storyteller for your wedding or elopement day, pay attention to the coloring from clip to clip. Is it consistent? Does it match with your personal style?
Basecamp Visual is a Colorado based husband and wife photography and videography team run by us, David & Shanna McCann. We place the highest value on storytelling and preserving life’s beautifully fleeting moments, and take great pride in crafting heirloom style galleries and films. We are enthusiastically booking 2019 + 2020 weddings and elopements and would LOVE to join you for your big day – get in touch to learn more and get your date locked down!
| chelsea + bobby’s intimate colorado elopement | rocky mountain elopement videography | colorado intimate elopement film inspiration | colorado wedding videographers | a rocky mountain elopement inspiration|
.jpg)
“Love is friendship caught fire.”
You guys. Where can I even begin with Chelsea + Bobby? A ten year love story in the making, these two have it all. As the weeks and days led up to their Colorado elopement day, Chelsea + I became friends as we chatted about the details. Could she convince Bobby to wear suspenders? (She did, and he looked mighty fine.) Would they find the perfect location that didn’t require too much hiking, had incredible views, and allowed the drone? (Her mom did! It was BREATHTAKING.) So many more details and nerves talked though, by the time we finally got to this perfect September day, I felt a joy for these two as deeply as I would a long time friend. I awkwardly laughed so I wouldn’t cry with each nervous breath she took waiting for their first look. I sobbed at their vows. I sobbed some more with each edit months later. I’ll probably cry again when I publish this post.
Dave thinks I’m ridiculous. He’s right. #dontcare
Surrounded with the love of their two children and immediate families, C + B held each other close and vowed to love each other through it all. These two are straight out of their own Nicholas Sparks novel and we couldn’t have loved working with them more. In fact, we’re currently BEGGING them to renew their vows yearly so we can do it all over again.
We hope you LOVE their elopement film. It’s YET another favorite of ours.
Here’s a look back at their teaser, too! SO fun!
We loved working with Shanna of Shanna M. Photography and are thrilled to share just a TINY sampling of her incredible photos below. I mean, how freaking gorgeous, right? Make sure you head over to her site via the link below to view more.
Okay, and let’s also address the giant elephant in the room and acknowledge that yes, Chelsea & Bobby hired TWO Shannas for their wedding and that’s a pretty rare thing.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Photography: Shanna M. Photography
Location: Guanella Pass
Basecamp Visual is a Colorado based husband and wife photography and videography team run by us, David & Shanna McCann. We place the highest value on storytelling and preserving life’s beautifully fleeting moments, and take great pride in crafting heirloom style galleries and films. We are enthusiastically booking 2019 + 2020 weddings and elopements and would LOVE to join you for your big day – get in touch to learn more and get your date locked down!
| south dakota family session | colorado family photographer | at home family session | colorado springs family photographer |
.jpg)
Many of you know about our Airstream, May. For those who don’t, let me fill you in. Last May of 2018, we sold our century old Colorado Springs home and purchased an 1978 Airstream Argosy, whom we affectionately named May, and planned to renovate and live in full time for a couple years while we saved up to build our dream forever little home in the mountains.
We loaded up most of what we owned and our little family and headed back to my (Shanna!) parents’ house in South Dakota for a couple months. There, we spent our time painstakingly and loving ripping her apart and starting to make her own own. Dave flew back to Colorado a few times for weddings and we did some extra travel of our own during that time frame, too. It was a busy and fun start to our summer!
While there, being VERY aware of our personal set of skills and limitations, we knew there would be certain portions of our renovation that we just couldn’t do ourselves. There comes in Ryan. He and I went to school together and had done our best to keep in touch – wishing each other happy birthdays and congratulations as we each got married and began adding babies to our families. I reached out one evening, blindly throwing it out there – “umm so hey, we gotta build cabinets and stuff for this thing. Can we hire you?” He, even more blindly, agreed. Thus began several weeks of cabinet making that turned into bathroom renovating and wall building and all around general renovating that he definitely didn’t know he signed up for. Ask him if he’ll ever assist in renovating an Airstream again and I can just hear his laugh and resounding “nope.”
While the Airstream life ultimately ended up not being for us – HEY BTW, she’ll be for sale this spring! – we are grateful for the quality work Ryan did for our little home. We know she’ll be MUCH better off for her new future owners than if Dave and I had tried to tackle all that ourselves.
Blood, sweat, and endless cuss words went into this project and with every early morning and late night spent over at his family’s beautiful homestead, I just knew that I needed to snag them for a session – in such a minor way, I hoped this way of saying THANK YOU would be received with open arms. Thankfully, Ryan and his beautiful wife Nichole approached me about doing a session before we left, saving me the awkward “hey so you guys are beautiful can I take your photos?” conversation.
This, friends, is the Willuweit family. One sweet morning, at home, just being them. This is one of my favorite family sessions to date, and I hope you love them, too.
Your Narrative blog will appear here, click preview to see it live.
For any issues click here
Crafting heirloom films + stills for the wild at heart, Basecamp Visual is a Colorado based videography and photography company run by husband and wife duo, Dave & Shanna McCann. Are you on the hunt for a creative storytelling team? We’d love to chat! Contact us today to learn more.
| kayla + abe’s intimate colorado elopement | rocky mountain elopement videography | colorado intimate elopement film inspiration | colorado wedding videographers | a rocky mountain elopement inspiration|
.jpg)
“I accept this adventure as a lifelong adventure. It will be my endeavor to always pursue you; to safeguard our spiritual integrity of our relationship. As steel passes through fire, it becomes tempered. And after it’s tempered, it’s better able to withstand the stress against it. That’s what I want for our relationship as well.”
Kayla & Abe are the sweetest couple. They came to Colorado with their immediate families and a few of their closest friends to celebrate their union. No fuss, just a whole lot of love and support for these two. It was inspiring! Their gorgeous elopement day in the incredible Colorado Rocky Mountains was one of the best days. We were literally able to walk & dance through the rolling clouds, which was gorgeous and surreal. They had their first look and read letters to each other right on the side of the mountain – the wind blew and the clouds passed quickly by. THE BEST.
Kayla’s dad did both the traditional walk her down the aisle, but then switched roles to officiate his daughter’s wedding. It was beautiful and so heartfelt! You have so many options when you choose to marry in Colorado, and this simple, family focused ceremony was one of our favorites.
We hope you LOVE their elopement film. It’s another favorite of ours.
Here’s a look back at their teaser, too! SO fun!
Photography: Andi Bravo Photography
Florals: Birch and Bloom Floral
Basecamp Visual is a Colorado based husband and wife photography and videography team run by us, David & Shanna McCann. We place the highest value on family and preserving life’s beautifully fleeting moments, and take great pride in crafting heirloom style galleries and films. We are enthusiastically booking 2019 + 202 weddings and elopements and would LOVE to join you for your big day – get in touch to learn more and get your date locked down!
Amanda Lenhardt - This video is so beautiful! What an amazing venue and such a sweet couple
Aimee - This footage is STUNNING!
Sara - I have the benefit of knowing what the Sonnenalp Club looks like in real life and you TOTALLY did it justice! What a beautiful video for an obviously sweet couple.
Kestrel Bailey - I adore this. Your videography is beautiful, and I love the tones and emotions documented. Well done!
Kelsey - Yas! The cape all day everyday! I always wonder what I would change to, but really I just want to have another! So glad 10 years is coming up!!!
Kate - Oh this is so pretty!! Beautiful job, well done